Talk:D.J. Grothe - Quantifying the "Misogyny"/@comment-69.226.44.164-20120608200810
To play devil's advocate, I thought this first started when D.J. made two claims (These are general ideas of the claims...I am not going to go a find them again to wade in trough the muck around them now to get the exact quotes): 1. No one was ever thrown out a TAM for sexual harassment (or was reported to him) 2. Prominent female skeptics saying they didn't feel completely safe at an event like TAM helped reduce the amount of women at this year's TAM. I don't know if''' #1''' was simply a PR move on D.J.'s part or he forgot about women ever having issues with aggressive or creepy men at TAM. Silly statement regardless. He should have said something more along the lines that JREF has harassment policy, that they pride themselves on providing a safe space for all attendees and any harrassment claims will dealt with swiftly. D.J., last I read, was reminded about an event that he was part of (swiftly removing a jerk last year) and has since corrected himself. For part #2, one's feeling on this is subjective. D.J. blamed these negative blog comments, and to some women, this smacked of blaming the victim. But D.J. also had a point that people like Watson saying TAM or similar events were not a safe space would have an impact on women who never went to TAM. I have never had a bad experience at the TAMs I have been too, but I know others have. But I also know if I DID have a guy being aggressive to me, the JREF staff and fellow attendees would be all over it once I said anything about it. So to me, it is a pretty safe space...certainly safer than the majority of Vegas ;) So basically, what I intially heard (from the Skepchick side) was not that D.J. was sabotaging women's participation at TAM via female speakers, but was not paying enough attention to women who didn't feel safe at TAM and posted such on blogs...and they felt D.J. was blaming these bloggers for mentioning it. This could have been handled better. But from my perspective, Skepchicks and supporters went DefCon 1 immediately on D.J., rather than discussing their concerns directly with him, and debating the issues in a calm way until both sides made their point to mutual satisfaction. D.J. made statements more like a PR person and needed to acknowledge no place is perfectly safe, but that the JREF is committed to a fun, safe experience for all (and included examples of people removed promptly) and Watson needed to walkback her claims that TAM is not a safe space for women. Does she really think she is not safe at TAM? '' Really''? Anyway, I will have fun at TAMX and I will help out to the best of my ability any other female attendee who may be being harassed. I know just because I may not witness it, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. But also, TAM is the safest convention space I have ever been to. Also, it is safest to avoid certain blogs when Rebecca Watson feels slighted. It just is. And that is sad.